Friday, March 03, 2006

The Power of Good Leadership

The current day includes much rebellion against traditional forms of authority. Look around you with an eye for rebellion, and you will see that it is everywhere. Men are bad, bosses are evil, the government is corrupt, the military is abhorrent, the church is useless, the natural family is outmoded, and so on. Everywhere is rebellion, and authority, once prized in our culture, slinks to the corner, smarting from abuse and scorn.

This ought not to be so. We need authority. We need leadership. We need leaders. Chaos does not work well. Rebellion is fun for a while, but it does not bring health. Anarchy is rather dormant for a reason. Our lives are tuned to harmony and balance, to order and rule, and there is much good in this reality. Why, then, rises the rebel cry? There are many answers to such a question, but one of them is that there is a dearth of strong and principled leadership in the current day. That's a big statement, right? It surely is. Yet it is true. Think about it. People are cynical about the government because it is spotted with corruption. People dislike traditional familial structures because they were harvest fields for pain and abuse. People dislike the military because it overflexes its might and many are harmed as a result. Everywhere is abuse, and scarce is responsibility. Or so it seems.

There are good leaders out there. They are all throughout our society. In the coming days, we're going to look at what makes a good leader. I'm going to argue that strong, principled leadership is, among other things, strong (haha), principled (haha), courageous, thoughtful, person-oriented, forward-thinking, and motivational. We'll take some time to look at each of these aspects of good leadership. Perhaps, through such studies of leadership, we'll right the ship, and bring authority back from the dark corner.

1 Comments:

Please include in your series some consideration of the qualities for maturity listed in 1st Timothy and in Titus as prerequisites for leadership. I am commencing a study of these with my teenage sons, assisted by Dr. Gene Getz in his book -- The Measure of a Man.

About Me

PhD student in Historical Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Managing Director of the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at TEDS. Married to a woman of noble character, Bethany. Grateful for this life, excited for the next.